Tuesday, February 10, 2015

On Beauty and Trees

What a silly, empty wind we chase named "beauty."

Our shackled eyes see through lenses of fear, 

hurts, 

rejection, 

unrealistic goals...

and we wrongly assume everyone else's eyes see the same.

 

Nothing, besides other humans, do we seek to label in this way.

Straining to force individuals into a pre-determined mold we call "beauty."

 

Imagine the futility of wasting our God-given time, 

thoughts, 

and energy 

searching through the woods to compare & lable the trees.

Judging and belittling until one alone stood as the 

"most beautiful."

 

For how can one tree be more beautiful than the others?

Each one shaped by God... 

Ever changing,

growing,

healing,

producing...

 

Shining with glorious color in the autumn.

Baring their strength in winter. 

Heralding signs of new life in spring.

Offering rich brightness & shade in the summer.

 

We decorate the prickly ones,

swing on the large ones,

tenderly care for the small ones,

& dream under them all. 

 

It is, in fact, the uniqueness of the individual trees arranged as a group that creates the beauty of the forest.

Beauty of one is not threatened by the beauty beheld in another.

Each beauty is extremely different

standing together, 

all shapes, 

colors, 

ages, 

sizes... 

A sturdy bouquet of the creativeness of God. 

Beautiful.

 

Do we dare to believe that God displays even more beauty in each & every person whom He has dreamed up?

Those He personally knit together in His own image?

Are we brave enough to reject such a deep seeded lie that there is a competition in which we are all pitted against one another...

a belief that our worth is at stake?


For that truly is a lie. 


Let us stop the tired comparisons

that harm ourselves & every other person,

and stand together...

unthreatened,

unashamed,

beautiful. 

"For we don’t dare classify or compare ourselves... in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding." (2 Corinthians 10:12)



Tuesday, February 3, 2015

The Mom Uniform

I have a uniform I wear to work. 

Since I'm my own boss (unless you count the two miniature dictators whom I serve daily), it's a self-inflicted uniform. 

Here is why I wear a stay at home work uniform:

1) It deferentiates my sleeping time from my awake time. There are days don't leave my house (it's splendid and torturous depending on the moment). This was rare when babies came single file, but since we doubled the number of children in a 8-week span two years ago I've been known to hunker down & arrange rides for the social members of the family. Taking off my flannel PJ pants to don my sweat pants signifies that I am not going to climb back in bed. Added bonus: it allows my husband to know that it's been one of "those days" when he arrives home and I'm not changed out of my PJ pants. 

2) It saves time and mental energy. 
I have an overwhelming hate of having to change clothes. So I choose clothes that I can clean, mother, work out, and run errands in. This eliminates jeans, anything white or expensive or fashionable. I also am constantly attuned to any piece of fabric that is making me slightly uncomfortable. Therefore I decide in the morning to wear clothing that respectable people change into after a long day of looking presentable. That way I don't have to think of multiple outfits or change later. It's ingenious if you think about it. 

3) It saves on laundry.
I wear dirty clothes. It's as true as it is sad... But it's tremendously helpful at keeping my expectations realistic. Every morning, Theo wraps his little arms around my neck and squeezes me with heart-melting hugs while he wipes his boogers on my shoulder. I can not write the words expressing how much I enjoy my morning squeezes from this little guy... If I were trying to maintain living in cleanly clothing, I'd be frustrated right off the bat (which may or may not occur most Sunday morning when I wear my "real" clothes). So I typically repeat the top layers of clothing for a couple days. That way they start out with "unidentifiable" stains on them. Yes, it's gross to say out loud, but it happens. This is evident in the discrepancy between amount of laundry I produce and the amount of laundry I do. 

3) It's Awesome. 
Some stay at home moms miss having stuff to get dressed nicely for... I'm not one of them. Since I was in grade school, comfort was not worth sacrificing to look cool... I have much photographic evidence. As previously stated, the fact that I can wear sweat pants every day is my most favorite thing about my job!!! I mean, besides my children, of course... I revel in the fact that I don't have a dress code to follow. Although I do have a few guidelines I try to stick to:

- Don't use sweatshirt thumb holes while changing poopy diapers... I don't wear that dirty of clothing!

- Long tank tops under my sweatshirts help keep my back covered through the constant up and down off the floor. (Is it just me, or are they making sweat pants with less fabric in the butt? I can't be the only mom with all the right junk in all the right places?!?)

- Don't wear the same color sweat pants and sweatshirt. It's not a true uniform. Unless your spawn are also wearing matching jogging suits... Then go right ahead, coach!

- It's ok to purchase cute looking comfy clothes. They will be well used. Worn multiple days in a row. Sweat in, snotted on, cuddled up to, seen on you by your family and (sometimes) other humans... It's ok to have ones you like.

Those are my twisted thoughts on fashion. 

Now you can feel a little more permission to freely dress how best suits your life. 
I wore this sweatshirt for the entirely too many days in a row last week...